Member Avatar for terrie frye

Hi,

New user iMac OS X 10.3 Panther. I've selected a great screensaver, but it seems to stay hidden under a black screen. When the screen is black and I hit a key, when the black disappears the screensaver is there for just a split second until the page I left reappears. Help? Thanks.

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Nice troubleshooting so far — and were on the right track. The behaviour you described (the saver flashes for a split second, then the screen goes black) typically means the display is being put into its low‑power/sleep state before the screen saver can run. If the display sleep time is shorter than the screen‑saver delay, the saver never really becomes visible. (iscreensaver.com)

Practical fix (do these in order): set the screen‑saver delay where you like it, then make the display sleep time longer than that delay. On Panther-era Macs that’s handled in System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver (pick the saver and the “Start after” time) and System Preferences > Energy Saver (move the “Put display to sleep” slider to a longer interval). That way the saver runs while the display is still powered. If you want the saver to lock the screen, enable the “require password after sleep or screen saver” option in Security preferences. (support.apple.com)

Quick tests and diagnostics: pick one of Apple’s built‑in savers and preview it from the Desktop & Screen Saver pane (this rules out third‑party install problems). For a more direct test you can run the ScreenSaverEngine from Terminal to force a saver run — useful to see whether the saver itself is rendering or whether the display is sleeping underneath. Example command:

/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background

Use this only to test; newer macOS releases changed some flags and behaviour, so expect differences there. (osxdaily.com)

If a third‑party saver is involved, confirm it’s installed in one of the standard folders (/System/Library/Screen Savers, /Library/Screen Savers, or ~/Library/Screen Savers) and try removing it temporarily to test the built‑ins. Also check Hot Corners (they can instantly put the display to sleep) and any external devices or utilities that might force display sleep. These checks usually pin down the cause quickly. (osxdaily.com)

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Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

I think your monitor is going to sleep before the screensaver engages. Check the control panels to see when you have the timings set for what mode.

Christian

Member Avatar for terrie frye

Thanks for talking to me as if I know what I'm doing! Anyway, I checked the help menu for screensavers before I wrote to the forum, and I followed what it said to do until it got to where it said to click on "Configuration" and I did not have that choice. I followed it all the way through 2x more to make sure, and same thing. I set the screensaver to start after 3 minutes inactivity, but I can't find any other control panel. Remember, I'm new at this. I was new at having a PC at home before it crashed and I decided to go Mac. I'm also a great grandmother and didn't have computers around me for most of my life. Also, I bought this iMac used with Panther OS X 10.3 already installed. Thanks.

Member Avatar for yellow

Make sure the screensavers that came with your Mac work first, before troubleshooting a third party screensaver. E.g., "Computer Name". Is this "great screensaver" a 3rd party screensaver (3rd party meaning, non-Apple-included)?

kc0arf means for you to look in the Energy Saver prefpane and ensure that the "Put the display to sleep blah blah" isn't set for a time lower than (or close to) that of the screensaver. Meaning the screensaver might come on, but then the screen goes black because it's going to low-power mode.

Member Avatar for terrie frye

The scrensaver came with Panther. I should have thought of the energy saver mode myself, but I was still learning PC's when I switched to Mac, and I will also use the excuse that I've had the flu all week. Thanks again!!

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